The opening pages of Kazuo Ishiguro's dystopian epic "Never Let Me Go" find the orphans of Hailsham boarding school competing for space in the upstairs room of an old sports pavilion. Here they feel safe and secure, free of the heavy-handed leadership of their "guardians," government stewards tasked with indoctrinating the children to accept a gruesome future.
All of us could likely contribute similar stories of childhood retreats or hideaways that we created to insulate ourselves from the things we didn't want to face. But as we grow, the number of safe havens available to us slowly shrinks; no longer can we erase the sting of failure with an hour in a tree fort, or flee from responsibility by ensconcing ourselves beneath the bed. And often, all the strength in our bones is not enough to brace our tired walls against an impending collapse. This song is an admission of that simple truth, and an earnest plea for reinforcement from the everlasting arms.
lyrics
Lyrics by Evan Baker
She's asleep on my shoulder, I've got my head on the glass. My mind keeps racing, outpacing the car as I'm watching the landscape pass. I'm wondering where the years went, pushing prayers through the clouds. I'm thinking of my mother, my brothers, my father and how I just want to make them proud.
Shelter me and break my fall, barricade these tired walls 'til I know that I'm safe and secure here. Shelter me and break my fall, barricade these tired walls 'til I know that your banner over me is love.
I keep running in circles, I'm counting nickels and dimes; searching for proof of some progress, a sign that I haven't been wasting my time. I must have found a protector, an ally above, to see such a string of consecutive failures get swallowed by all this love.
Shelter me and break my fall, barricade these tired walls 'til I know that I'm safe and secure here. Shelter me and break my fall, barricade these tired walls 'til I know that your banner over me is love.
So if I fall a thousand times, if I collapse and compromise, will you be there to help me rise again and again? And when they lay my body down, and I am placed beneath the ground, will I inspire the glory-bound to live as I did?
Shelter me and break my fall, barricade these tired walls 'til I know that I'm safe and secure here. Shelter me and break my fall, barricade these tired walls 'til I know that your banner over me is love.
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